Adjustable guard frame for beds



Nov. 14, 1967 R. w. DODRILL ETAL ADJUSTABLE GUARD FRAME FOR BEDS Filed July 1, 1966 v I L CTJ mmm r N a m f w M L mM m M 51. r n 0.0 A w m l WA o M F u Uited rates atent flice 3,351,962 Patented Nov. 14, 1967 3,351,962 ADJUSTABLE GUARD FRAME FOR BEDS Richard W. Dorlrill, San Pedro, and Calvin W. Long, Los Angeles, Calif, assignors to Bedline Inc., Bell Gardens, Calif, a corporation of California Filed July 1, 1966, Ser. No. 562,219 3 Claims. (61. -331) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An adjustable guard frame or rail for a bed, in which the guard frame is of skeletal construction and has an elongate rotatable extensible and retractable lower rail structure having its opposite ends respectively guidingly attached to a vertical guide rail by an element having its opposite sides slidingly engaged with flanges on opposite sides of an elongate guide slot so as to permit the guard frame to be adjustably raised and lowered to different positions where it can be releasably secured by locking elements carried by the member, these locking elements comprising the ends of an elongate U-shaped spring member which extend through the associated guide slot and are movable towards and away from each other in'lateral- 1y aligned guide slots, these ends when resiliently urged apart being arranged to move into confronting dwell notches in the guide slot flanges corresponding to the various raised and lowered selected positions of the guard frame. The bridging portion of the U-shaped spring member is anchored to the rotatable lower rail structure of the guard frame, which carries a handle by which it can be selectively rotated to apply a twisting force to the U-shaped spring member and cause the ends which form the locking members to move towards each other to an unlocked position out of the associated flange notches. The extensible and retractable lower rail structure also permits tilting adjustment of the guard rail so as to position one end thereof at an elevated position above that of the other end.

The present invention relates generally to safety guard frames or rails for beds and the like such as utilized in hospitals, convalescent homes and similar locations;.and is more particularly concerned with improvements in the mounting and adjusting means for controlling and adjusting the position of the guard frame.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a simplified and improved safety guard frame or rail structure for beds, which may be easily and quickly selectively controlled and adjusted between positions of use and non-use from a conveniently accessible manually operable control means.

It is a further object of the herein described invention to provide a bed safety guard frame or rail having improved mounting and guiding means which permits selective raising, lowering and tilting positioning of the rail, and which includes novel means for retaining the rail in its adjusted positions.

Another object is to provide an improved safety guard frame or rail which is supported for adjusting movements on end guide rails, and wherein selective manually controlled means are provided for effecting a locked and unlocked connection between the guard frame or rail and the associated guide rails.

Further objects of the invention will be brought out in the following part of the specification, wherein detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the invention without placing limitations thereon.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are for illustrative purposes only:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bed structure having a safety guard frame or rail embodying the features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing details of the connection means with a guide'rail,

taken substantially on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary View having a cut-away portion showing parts of the manual actuator mechanism for the connection means.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, for illustrative purposes, there is shown in FIG. 1 a bed having a headboard 10 at one end and footboard 11 at its opposite end, and an interconnecting frame structure 12 arranged to support a conventional mattress 13 thereon.

The headboard 10 and footboard 11 are similarly supported, the headboard being provided with post forming vertical rails 14a and 1412, while the footboard 11 is pro vided with similar rails 15a and 15b. These rails are secured inwardly of the lateral edge margins of the headboard or footboard with which they are associated and extend downwardly to provide the post supports which are fitted at their lowermost ends with suitable casters as indicated by the numeral 16 in each case.

It is an important aspect of the present invention to provide safety guard frames or rails, as generally indicated by numeral 17, that are supported in the vertical rails forming the posts for the headboard and footboard of the bed. As shown in FIG. 1, the safety rail, comprises an elongate skeletal tubular framework which may vary as to general design and configuration, but is shown herein as being of substantially rectangular shape. A top member 18 is deflected at its opposite ends to provide right angled end members 19 and 20 which are interconnected by a connecting member 21 shown as being spaced from and parallel to the top member 18.

Below the connecting member 21, there is provided at the bottom of the guard frame a sectionized bottom member which is made up of an outer tubular guide 22 which is firmly secured as by welding or otherwise at 23 to the lower end of end member 20, and extends substantially to the longitudinal center of the guard frame. The outer tubular guide provides a support for one end of an elongate tubular rotatable operating member 24a which has its other end portion rotatably supported in a bearing sleeve 25 aflixed to the lowermost end of end member 19. The operating member 24a is interconnected, as will hereafter be described, with a second rotatable operating member 24b which is contained for the most part within the tubular guide 22, but has a projecting end which extends beyond the end member 20. A hand grip or handle 26 secured to the operating member 24a provides means by which both the operating members 24a and 24b may be rotated for the purpose of controlling the operation of guide and locking means, as generally indicated at 27, at each end of the guard rail (only one being shown) and which are controllable to permit raising and lowering adjustments of the guard rail and its securement in adjusted position.

Since the guide and locking means at the foot end of the bed is the same as that at the head end of the bed, it is believed that it will only be necessary to explain the construction with respect to one such installation.

Referring now to FIG. 2, it will be seen that the post forming rail, in this case the rail 14a, is of square tubular construction and is fabricated with an elongate slot 28 in one wall which is bounded by border flanges 29 and 30.

The associated guide and locking means 27 is illustrated as comprising a substantially square block member 31 of suflicient width to span the slot 28 and slidably engage the flanges 29 and 30. This block has a central aperture 32 which loosely receives the adjacent end of the rotatable operating member 24b. A retainer bracket 33 is secured to the back surface of the block 31 by means of rivets 34 and 35 which extend through upper and lower mounting foot pads 36 and 37, these foot pads serving to hold the bracket main body 38 in spaced relation to the block member. The main body 38 is fabricated with oppositely extending side wings 39 and 40 which extend over the back sides of the flanges 29 and 30 so as to maintain the block 31 in sliding engagement and prevent lateral tilting thereof. As thus arranged, the block 31 and retainer bracket are slidably movable as a unit along the slot 28.

The locking mechanism for securing the guide and locking means in adjusted position comprises a U-shaped spring member 41 having the general configuration of a hairpin and in which leg portions 42 and 43 are integrally formed with a bridging section 44. The free ends of the leg portions 42 and 43 extend through horizontally aligned slots 45 and 46 and respectively have outwardly deflected end portions 47 and 48. Thus, the end margins of the legs 42 and 43 form locking elements which, due to the spring action of the member 41, provide locking elements which are adapted to normally be urged away from each other towards a locking position.

In order to lock the guide and locking means With respect to the associated rail 14a, the rail flanges 29 and 30 are provided with a series of confronting notches 49 and 50 which will receive the end portions of the legs 42 and 43 when the guard frame is moved to a desired raised or lowered position.

The spring member 41 is anchored at the bridging section 44 by means of a peripherally grooved retaining ring 51 and anchor rivet 52 which extends through the adjacent wall of the rotatable operating member 24b in this case, or the wall of the rotatable member 24a at the foot end of the bed. As thus arranged, rotational movement of the rotatable operating members will in each case apply a twisting force to the bridging section 44 of the spring member, and since the free ends of the leg portions 42 and 43 can only move within the associated slots 45 and 46, this twisting force will set up reaction forces which will oppose the normal spring force which motivates theleg ends into a locking position and cause them to move in the opposite direction towards each other to an unlocked position with respect to the notches 49 and 50 as shown in phantom lines in FIG. 2. In the unlocked position, the guide and locking means will be free for movement in a raising and lowering direction along the slot 28 for adjusting positioning. During such movement, the locking elements will be disposed inwardly of the flanges 29 and 30, and when a set of notches 49 and 50 are in proper position, the locking elements will automatically move into the notches and lock the guide and locking means against further movement until released.

As shown in FIG. 1, the guard rail may be tilted so as to position one end at a higher elevation than the other, if such is desired. In order to accomplish this change in position of the guard rail, it will be apparent that the distance between the guide and locking means 27 at the head end and foot end of the bed will be increased when the guard rail is inclined as shown in phantom lines in FIG. 1. In order to provide for such adjustment, the bottom rotatable operating structure composed of members 24a and 24b is constructed-so that it may be expanded or contracted to compensate for the change in length.

As shown in FIG. 4, the members 24a and 24b are interconnected by a slide connection which includes a connecting member 53, one end of this member extending into the adjacent end of member 24a and being fixedly secured therein by means of the fastening screws 54-54 utilized to secure the handle 26. The other end of the member 53 extends into the inner end of member 24b and is provided with diametrically registering end slots 55a and 55b in which a pin 56 is slidable, this pin having its ends secured 4 in the adjacent wall of the surrounding member 24b. With this connection, the rotatable operating members 24a and 24b are rotatable as a unit by means of the handle 26, and can be extended and retracted when the guard rail is moved to inclined and horizontal positions.

From the foregoing description, it is believed that it will be appreciated that the heretofore outlined objects of the invention will be attained, and that the adjustable guard frame embodying the described features provides inherent advantages which are not available in known conventional structures as utilized for this purpose.

Various modifications may suggest themselves to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of our invention, and, hence, we do not wish to be restricted to the specific form shown or uses mentioned, except to the extent indicated in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An adjustable guard frame for a bed, comprising:

(a) vertical guide rails on one side of the bed, one of said rails being at the head end of the bed and the other at the foot end;

(b) a skeletal frame structure extending generally along said side of the bed and having its ends respectively positioned adjacent said guide rails;

(c) attaching means guidingly connecting each end of the frame structure to the adjacent guide rail for raising and lowering movements, each of said attaching means having locking elements selectively operable into locked and unlocked positions with respect to the associated guide rail; and

(d) manually operable means including a rotatable elongate structure carried by said frame structure and having a rotatable handle member intermediate the ends of the frame structure for selectively actuating said locking elements into locked and unlocked positions, said elongate structure being extensible and retractable to enable longitudinal tilting of the guard frame so as to position one end thereof at an elevated position above that of the other end.

2. An adjustable guard frame for a bed, comprising:

(a) vertical guide rails on one side of the bed, one of said rails being at the head end of the bed and the other at the foot end;

(b) a skeletal frame structure extending generally along said side of the bed and having its ends respectively positioned adjacent said guide rails;

(c) attaching means guidingly connecting each end of the frame structure to the adjacent guide rail for raising and lowering movements, each of said attaching means having locking elements normally spring urged towards a locked position and being selectively operable into locked and unlocked positions with respect to the associated guide rail, said locking elements being carried by a member in sliding engagement with the guide rail and comprising the ends of an elongate U-shaped spring member, said ends being movable towards and away from each other in laterally aligned guide slots;

((1) manually operable means carried by said frame structure for selectively actuating said elements into locked and unlocked positions including a rotatable part having the bridging portion of the U-shaped spring member anchored thereto, whereby to apply a twisting force to the U-shaped spring member and cause the locking members to move towardsreach other in the guide slots into an unlocked position.

3. An adjustable guard frame for a bed, comprising:

(a) vertical guide rails on one side of the bed, one of said rails being at the head end of the bed and the other at the foot end;

(b) a skeletal frame structure extending generally along said side of the bed and having its ends respectively positioned adjacent said guide rails;

(c) attaching means guidingly connecting each end of the frame structure to the adjacent guide rail for raising and lowering movements, each of said attaching means having locking elements normally spring urged towards a locked position and selectively op'erable into locked and unlocked positions with respect to the associated guide rail, said locking elements being carried by a member operably slidable in an elongate guide slot of the associated guide rail, said slot having a series of dwell notches on its opposite sides in confronting relation for receiving said locking elements in their locked position at different raised and lowered selected positions of adjustment of the guard frame.

References (Iited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 2,871,490 2/1959 Balonick 5 331 2,891,258 6/1959 Reichert 5331 2,979,738 4/ 1961 Goldberg 5-331 3,032,781 5/1962 Constanti 5-331 10 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

R. D. KRAUS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN ADJUSTABLE GUARD FRAME FOR A BED, COMPRISING: (A) VERTICAL GUIDE RAILS ON ONE SIDE OF THE BED, ONE OF SAID RAILS BEING AT THE HEAD END OF THE BED AND THE OTHER AT THE FOOT END; (B) A SKELETAL FRAME STRUCTURE EXTENDING GENERALLY ALONG SAID SIDE OF THE BED AND HAVING ITS ENDS RESPECTIVELY POSITIONED ADJACENT SAID GUIDE RAILS; (C) ATTACHING MEANS GUIDINGLY CONNECTING EACH END OF THE FRAME STRUCTURE TO THE ADJACENT GUIDE RAIL FOR RAISING AND LOWERING MOVEMENTS, EACH OF SAID ATTACHING MEANS HAVING LOCKING ELEMENTS SELECTIVELY OPERABLE INTO LOCKED AND UNLOCKED POSITIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE ASSOCIATED GUIDE RAIL; AND (D) MANUALLY OPERABLE MEANS INCLUDING A ROTATABLE ELONGATE STRUCTURE CARRIED BY SAID FRAME STRUCTURE AND HAVING A ROTATABLE HANDLE MEMBER INTERMEDIATE THE ENDS OF THE FRAME STRUCTURE FOR SELECTIVELY ACTUATING SAID LOCKING ELEMENTS INTO LOCKED AND UNLOCKED 